Stitched seam adapted for use in finishing piped openings



Feb. 12, 1957 5. J. KETTERER STITCHED SEAM ADAPTED FOR USE IN FINISHING PIPED OPENINGS Filed Jun 18, 1954 WITNESS A TTORNE Y United States Patent STITCHIED SEAM ADAPTED FOR USE IN FINISHING PIPED OPENINGS Stanley J. Ketterer, Stratford, Conn, assignor to The Singer Manufacturing Company, Elizabeth, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application June 18, 1954, Serial No. 437,608

1 Claim. (21. 112-264) The present invention relates to bound or piped garment openings, particularly bnttonholes.

In my copending application, Serial No. 397,536, filed Dec. 11, 1953, there is disclosed one method of producing a bound opening blank and a method of performing the finishing operation thereon, i. e., the operation in which the facing material is stitched to the piping strip about the opening. The present invention relates to this finishing operation and has for a primary object to provide in a bound opening a seam for seeming the facing material to the piping strip, which will produce an attractive finished bound opening.

Having in mind the above and other objects that will be evident from an understanding of this disclosure, the invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts as illustrated in the presently preferred embodiment of the invention which is hereinafter set forth in such detail as to enable those skilled in the art readily to understand the function, operation, construction and advantages of it when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a completed bound button-hole or the like that has been made in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a section view taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a detail view in perspective with the work being sectioned and the stitching projected better to illustrate the same.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a bound button hole blank that is used in making the completed buttonhole illustrated in Fig. 1.

In the following description and in the drawings, the present invention is illustrated as embodied in a bound buttonhole, which is one example of a bound or piped opening. The bound buttonhole blank as it appears in Fig. 4 is initially prepared, for example, in accordance with the method disclosed in my above-noted prior application. The blank consists of a body or base material 1 having end tabs 2 and side tabs 3 which are underfolded to form fold edges 4 and 5, respectively, which define a substantially rectangular button hole opening 6. Folded piping strips 7 with the fold edges thereof abutting substantiallly along the longitudinal centerline of the opening 6, which piping strips are secured to the body material 1 by stitching 8 running longitudinally along the margin of the buttonhole opening 6 and the end-tabs 2, are secured to the piping strips 7 by stitching 9.

In the finishing operation, a facing material or so-called liner 10 is arranged upon the inner surface of the garment, or on that side opposite from the body material 1, which is the exposed surface of the garment. The facing material is arranged in the desired relation with respect to the buttonhole blank, is cut to provide an opening opposite to the opening 6, and then it is stitched preferably with the edges turned under to form an attractive finished buttonhole and with the stitches being unnotice- 2 able on the exposed surface of the garment, or on the side of the body material 1.

In accordance with the present invention the threadtin each stitch includes a work-limb W which comes from the last stitch made in the work, and a supply limb S which comes from the supply, or upon the formation of succeeding stitches, becomes the work-limb of the next stitch. These thread limbs W and S are projected through a loop of thread L which extends forward from the last stitch. The thread limbs are at this point juxtaposed and in efiect comprise a single thread limb which is then run into and out of the underlying adjacent surface of the piping strip, through the lacing material 1, and is then extended forward about the cut edge of the facing material, which in the finished buttonhole is under-folded as indicated by the underfolded edge 11, where it is spread to form the loop L. For convenience, that portion of the stitch which comprises the limbs of thread, which in :efiect constitute a single thread limb, running through the piping strip and facing material are herein designated the needle-limb N, and that portion extending from the needle-limb forward toward the next stitch and in which the loop L is formed is designated the looper limb A. The stitch thus comprises the needle-limb N passing into the piping strip 7 at a point underlying the underfo lded edge 11 of the facing material, passing out of the piping strip 7 on the same side thereof and at points spaced from the openingfi relative to the entry point, and through the facing material, and the looper-limb A which extends from the point at which the thread emerges from the facing material, over the underfolded edge of the facing material, and toward the next stitching point where the next needleloop passes throughthrough. The stitches are set substantil-ly along the line defined by the points of entry of the needle-loop N of the successive stitches into the piping strips as illustrated in the drawings.

When there is employed in the finishing operation a seam such as herein illustrated, the sewing operation in itself will act to pull the cut edge or the facing material into the desired shape, i. e., substantially defining a rectangular opening corresponding to the buttonhole opening 6 in the body material. In fact, it has been found that in making the illustrated new this cut edge will be folded back under as illustrated in the drawings to form an attractive finished seam.

Numerous alterations of the structure herein disclosed will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be understood that the present disclosure relates to a preferred embodiment of my invention which is for purposes of illustration only and not to be construed as a limitation of the invention. All such modifications which do not depart from the spirit of the invention are intended to be included Within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, What I claim herein is:

In a bound buttonhole or the like, a base material having an opening therein, folded piping strips secured to said base material at opposite sides of and extending across the edges of said opening with the folded edges thereof in abutment substantially along the longitudinal center line of said opening, a facing material in contact with said piping strips and having an opening in register with the opening in the base material, and stitching securing said lacing material to said piping strips about said opening, said stitching comprising single-thread chainstitch blind stitches and each of the stitches consisting of a loop of thread passing through a loop from the previous stitch and into the underlying surface of the piping strip adjacent to the facing material at a point underlying and spaced from the edge of the opening in said facing material, passing out of the facing material at a point spaced away frorn the edge of said opening relative to the point of entry of said loop, passing through the facing material, 7

' next stitch.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES (copy available in Div. 24). V r y 7 New Encyclopedia. of Modern Sewing; published by Wise 8: Co., Inc., New York; I949; page 1-75 cited (copy 7 1,133,808 Lewis Mar. 30, 1915 10 available in Div. 24 t 

